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All over New Zealand, prisoners are breaking out of their cells and the Department of Corrections is quite happy about it.

The freedom the prisoners are finding has nothing to do with the physical bars that contain them they are escaping their mental prisons, using the keys of meditation to open the door.

For more than three years, Ishaya monks of the Bright Path have been teaching ascension meditation techniques in prisons around the country. This follows a successful trial at Rimutaka Prison.

Savitri and Prasada Ishaya first approached Corrections in 2016 to volunteer as meditation teachers in prison, inspired byA Mindful Choice a documentary film made by two Kiwi colleagues about the positive power of ascension meditation including in one of Mexico's most notorious prisons.

Chris McKeen/Stuff

For more than three years, Savitri Ishaya and other monks have been teaching ascension meditation techniques in prisons around the country.

"I was so impressed and inspired by the fact that people who had suffered terribly traumatic lives and experiences were able to find peace even in a prison environment," Savitri says.

She showed the film to Corrections and they decided to trial meditation at the Drug Treatment Unit (DTU) at Rimutaka Prison.

Since then, the teachers have returned for many block courses and the teaching of ascension meditation has expanded to six prisons across the country. Last year, 46 courses were delivered in prisons teaching about 400 people, including some Corrections staff.

Chris McKeen/Stuff

The main benefit to inmates from ascension meditation is in the way they're able to stop themselves from falling back into old behaviour patterns.

Frith Dunlop, clinical manager at the Rimutaka DTU, says the men come to the high security unit through a dual mechanism first their case manager will recommend the DTU as part of their rehabilitation but the prisoners also have to agree to it, so there is an element of self-selection.

Then as part of their course they are offered the opportunity to take the ascension meditation course. Dunlop says around half the inmates in each intake put up their hands.

"There are always people in the group who are motivated and are willing to try anything. We do a lot of preparation before the coursewhat's involved, what to expect and, basically asking them: 'What have you got to lose?"'

Dunlop said the main benefit she's seen from ascension meditation is the way the inmates are able to stop themselves from falling back into old behaviour patterns they are less reactionary.

"When they start falling back into old thinking patterns, they've got a simple way to find a moment to pause to reset themselves and put themselves back on track we see that all the time, right in front of our eyes: you can see they are going down a certain path and they just stop. And then they have the time to rationalise what they are doing and get back on the right track."

Chris McKeen/Fairfax NZ

Savitri says her students are motivated because they are "hungry for peace".

And she's seen success where she least expected it, recalling one prisoner who grudgingly volunteered for the programme.

"One that I'm thinking of, I really didn't expect him to be interested, I didn't expect him to last the first day," she says.

"But after the first session he started to make noises that showed something was changing in him. And then he started to talk about how he suddenly realised that he was in charge of his thoughts. We encourage our guys to journal and he started journalling about how his reality has changed because he's been able to change the way he thinks.

"That was a huge revelation for him because he was at the start of a long sentence and was quite depressed about it he made it clear that he feels positive [now] about doing the rest of the sentence and that he can handle anything he can just practise his techniques at any time when things get hard or he gets frustrated or overwhelmed. And this is a person I didn't expect to last the first day."

Savitri says some of the changes she's witnessed in the prisoners have been profound.

"These guys are interested because they are hungry for peace they have got powerful motivation to drop their thoughts and they are very interested in learning how to drop emotions particularly anger.

"They know that when the red mist comes they often can't control what happens next. So, to have a tool that allows them to notice when they are starting to get triggered into traditional patterns of behaviour and to use the technique as a circuit breaker is great," she says.

"The guys who are ready to change areso good at putting this into practice that the change can happen rapidly because they really want it."

She says it's amazing to see the difference in the individuals and the group from the beginning to the end of the course.

One of the reasons a depressed or angry prisoner can make a sudden change within a few days is because the ascension meditation techniques are simple and easy to practise, says Savitri.

Chris McKeen/Stuff

Ascension meditation enables you to release stress through the day. "I call it preventative medicine if you're doing it every day, the stress levels don't overflow. You're much more resilient, calm and coming from a much more present place."

"It's a simple tool that allows us to let go of our thoughts and emotions there are lots of patterns of behaviour that come about through the way people relate to their thoughts, and when we are always focused on our thoughts and believing them, we don't realise how they often drive our actions."

Corrections lists the benefits of the meditation programmes as: managing anger, stress, tension and trauma; improved communication with others, including whnau and Corrections staff; motivation to participate in rehabilitation programmes to address offending, and education and offender employment activities.

There has been a lot of research on what is known as emotional contagion, the transfer of moods among people in a group. The basic premise is summed up in the old quote "misery loves company" one person's negative mood can influence others in a family, workplace or group. And the reverse is true a positive mood is equally catchy; it can increase co-operation and decrease conflict important in a prison setting.

It's something Dunlop has noticed within Rimutaka's DTU, with a ripple effect based on how many men in the unit have taken the course.

"The last time that Savitri and Prasadacame through was the most powerful I've seenwe noticed a real shift," Dunlop says.

"We noticed significant shifts in behaviour, compliance and morale. It changed the whole unit even when the whole unit didn't undertake the programme. But those who did brought peace back to the unit with them."

Dunlop speculates that because the unit always has some inmates who have been there for a while, they can positively affect newcomers by talking up meditation and continuing to practise it themselves.

"We've always got a few people left from the last intake that have done the ascension course. This is about the fourth or fifth time in the past two years that we've had them in so there's a number of people who have done it, so when we are trying to encourage newcomers to give it a shot, we've got men saying, 'This is really valuable."'

Those who have already learned are keen to resit the course and the new students come more willingly because their peers have recommended it, she says.

"We've got another course coming up in March and we will have even more people in the unit who have done it once or twice before, so we expect the next time around will be a more powerful effect."

This doesn't surprise Savitri her experience is that the prisoners who embrace the techniques are strong advocates for its power.

"The guys who get keen on it are very good at passing on their experience to others they all like to talk about it and how they are changing.

"It takes a while for them to trust us and then to be willing to open up and try the techniques and sometimes people aren't ready to do that but for those who are ready, once they've done the first couple of lessons they start to meditate in their cells and they get quite enthusiastic."

She likens regular practice of meditation to a pressure valve that can release stress, a huge benefit in a prison where anger and quick tempers can cause trouble.

"It enables you to release a lot of stress through the day so it's not building up. I call it preventative medicine if you're doing it every day, the stress levels don't overflow. You're much more resilient, calm and coming from a much more present place.

"A guy might have someone say something to him and in the past he would have flared up or even given him the bash but, after learning to meditate, they say things like. 'I just used my technique and I was able to let it go.' That might seem like a small thing, but it's huge to these guys. For them to be able to let that stuff go is just amazing."

The next step in the programme, besides spreading to other prisons beyond the current six, is to get some real measurement of what until nowhas been anecdotal success stories.

Dunlop says thereare national statistics available on what's calledRQthe rehabilitation quotient of all the DTUs around the country, but there are no site-specific stats held, so it's hard to pull out variables such as what difference meditation has had on prisoners once they are released.

But Dunlop is a believer and it seems Corrections can see the benefits too.

"I can't speak for Corrections but I can speak for the support they've shown the programme they believe in and want it to keep happening.

"I've sat in on a few of the courses with the men and it's something I practise several times daily and this is what people don't understand: it doesn't have to take time if you're busy.

"I sometimes do just a couple of minutes four times a day like when I'm shifting from one job to another it's like getting closure in my mind about what I've just been working on and freshen up for the next step.

"Definitely before I get out of the car and walk into the prison, I do a quick session and if something particularly stressful is going on, I use it as a strategy."

Another measure of success is that the rest of the world is starting to take notice of what is happening in some New Zealand prisons.

Since prisons in Mexico and New Zealand began offering ascension meditation, their counterparts in other countries are also getting involved. The Ishaya monks have started going into prisons in Norway and Spain and the first course is about to be taught in a facility near Perth, Australia.

"We want to wake people up to know that peace is possible," says Savitri.

FINDING YOUR PEACE: TESTIMONIALS FROM PRISON STUDENTS

"Like many other men in my situation, I wasn't granted the luxury of a healthy upbringing. [This] led me to develop many very negative unhelpful views about myself, others and the world. These views and beliefs are the bricks and mortar of my internal mental prison, far more secure and complex than any maximum security prison and until now I considered it escape-proof.

"I was blown back in my seat at the first class when [the teacher] said it's all too often that we think we are just bad or broken. And that's exactly what my beliefs tell me. That's what all the drug use and looking for love and acceptance outside myself has been all about. The downside to that antisocial lifestyle has been making poor choices and bad decisions in which people have been hurt. I can't undo that tragedy. However, with your knowledge and teachings of meditation I can start to break down the beliefs and views that created the thoughts... I can't thank you enough for the keys to my prison... Just know that there are others like me serving life sentences who need this."

Testimonial from a prison student

"I was burdened by raging thoughts, irregular sleep patterns and general anxiety. However by using the meditation techniques I have been able to really calm my mind. I have been experiencing deep, peaceful sleep and have noticed that my general anxiety has been reduced significantly."

Testimonial from a prison student

Mindfulness versus meditation

Mindfulness is a bit of a buzzword, butwhat's the difference between that andmeditation?

Read the original:
Meditation in NZ prisons offering keys to freedom - Stuff.co.nz

This entry was posted on February 28, 2020 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Preventative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |